The beauty of a Barnack?

[Bingley]

Going out in public with that barn door shade on must be like shouting out "Hey, look at me ... my young son made this lens shade in metal shop and I promised him I'd use it!"

😀

You're so right! 🙂 After I got the barn door shade and realized just how, er, barn-door-ish it was, I searched for alternatives and found one under my nose: the original clamp-on hood for the Canon 50/1.8, which clamps perfectly on to the Summitar, and makes the whole kit look a little less metal-shop-ish.

 

[flip]

Taking a second look at it, it looks a bit like a Barnack mating with a Petri.

 

[payasam]

For the Summitar/Sumicron, the SOOPD/SOOFM are far and away the most efficient hoods. They can interfere with exposure, though. I sometimes used a SOOPD folded up on a IIIc.

 

[raydm6]

Love, love, my IIIf...

Really, really, like my M6...

Don't need, but really want, an early Black II (Model D) w/5cm Elmar...

...and really, really, could use an M2 w/35 Summaron 2.8

...must resist...

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Those are the most beautiful cameras ever!

The first time I "decided" to buy a Leica IIIf, finally I bought a Bessa R4M... Then I decided I really "needed" that Barnack with a collapsible 50 3.5 Elmar, and finally I bought two Bessas T...

What the hell happened to me?

I want a Barnack!

 

[coelacanth]

Those are the most beautiful cameras ever!

The first time I "decided" to buy a Leica IIIf, finally I bought a Bessa R4M... Then I decided I really "needed" that Barnack with a collapsible 50 3.5 Elmar, and finally I bought two Bessas T...

What the hell happened to me?

I want a Barnack!

I've owned Bessa R3A and T myself, but IIIf with Elmar 50/3.5 is really really really something else. Go for it. You'll smack yourself for not getting it in the first place. 😀 It's a great conversation starter, chick magnet as well as older gentleman magnet, but above all, it's a super compact shooter you can carry everyday. 🙂

SX-70 with Pola 600 film

 

[Philip Whiteman]

The beauty of the screw-mount Leicas is on the outside – all those lovely knurled knobs and all that (Stop tittering at the back!) – the beauty of the M is looking through that big, bright finder.

I keep going back to a light compact setup of IIIC + Summitar, Voigtlander 25/4 and 9cm Elmar. It all goes into one tiny bag and is a delight to carry around and use – until one has to change lens and finder (and find a spare, third hand for the now homeless clip-on meter).

Nevertheless, the love affair continues…

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

It seems my preference is shared by good company! 🙂. Part of the attraction for me is an interest my wife and I have in furnishings, ornaments etc. - and the general lifestyle of the 'Art Deco' period of the late twenties and thirties. As mentioned earlier a Barnack just epitomises an era, and to me the 'lines', knurled knobs, and levers make it an 'engineers' -or instrument makers delight!. On the odd occasion that my wife accompanies me to a camera fair or store, the only things she picks up to examine, are old Leicas or Contax, she knows very little about photography, but has a good eye for old quality items! ( well - she did choose me! 😛 )
Dave.

 

[raydm6]

I've worked in hi-tech for 30 years - with 20 of those years as a Configuration Manager (I basically manage hardware & software engineering and technical documentation and engineering/product baseline changes) - and can only wonder what it would have been like to work at the Leitz factory with all those wonderful craftsman (men and ladies) amid all the engineering drawings and parts: sorting out all the design changes and working with the product line configurations and iterations... ...and all before computerization, CAD, and PLM/ERP.

Hopefully, there was no part pilfering going on for a take-home DIY build-a-Leica kit 🙂


But, I'm basically a hardware guy, and these diminutive Leicas hold their own against some of the products I've documented and released to production.

I love good engineering and industrial design. These little guys - and their accessories - are works of art. It's nice to pay homage to the folks that designed and crafted them as well...

 

[Luddite Frank]

I love my "Barnacks" !

They're not a "point & shoot", and that's just fine with me... ( That's what Brownies are for... 😉 )


I saw my first screw-mount Leicas when I was in high-school, thirty years ago, ona visit to the US Senate's photo lab. The thing that really stuck with me was the odd-looking diaphragm in the lens (had to have been a Summar or Summitar).


Fast-forward to middle-age, when I finally had a little mad-money, I bought a III-f BD / Summicron (1950) and a black II (1932) with nickel Elmar (11 o'clock Inf lock.).

The III-f turned out to have bad shutter blinds ( crackly), but the II works fine.

I have added two black III's (1933), and a chrome III from 1934.

My chrome III ( flaking chrome) has turned-out to be my "go-camera" - my everday kit. Bag contains an Elmar 35, Canon 35 /f 1.8, Summicron 50, Elmar 90, Hektor 135, Fikus shade, barndoors, the camera body, and a Toshiba "Linear" CdS meter.

I have shot well over 100 rolls of film in the last year or so, and generally choose the Barnack over my Pentax Spotmatic, Minolta XG-1, Exakta, etc.

I like things with lots of dials and knobs, and the Leica is a darned-fine piece of machinery !

It scratches a "niche itch"...

I think I'm almost afraid to try an M.... for fear I'll like it better than
LTM ?🙄


Luddite Frank

 

[dogberryjr]

The "barn door" shades make me chuckle every time I see one. With the size of that thing, you'd think that the Summitar is so bad it would flare at a bright smile.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I love my "Barnacks" !

They're not a "point & shoot", and that's just fine with me... ( That's what Brownies are for... 😉 )


I saw my first screw-mount Leicas when I was in high-school, thirty years ago, ona visit to the US Senate's photo lab. The thing that really stuck with me was the odd-looking diaphragm in the lens (had to have been a Summar or Summitar).


Fast-forward to middle-age, when I finally had a little mad-money, I bought a III-f BD / Summicron (1950) and a black II (1932) with nickel Elmar (11 o'clock Inf lock.).

The III-f turned out to have bad shutter blinds ( crackly), but the II works fine.

I have added two black III's (1933), and a chrome III from 1934.

My chrome III ( flaking chrome) has turned-out to be my "go-camera" - my everday kit. Bag contains an Elmar 35, Canon 35 /f 1.8, Summicron 50, Elmar 90, Hektor 135, Fikus shade, barndoors, the camera body, and a Toshiba "Linear" CdS meter.

I have shot well over 100 rolls of film in the last year or so, and generally choose the Barnack over my Pentax Spotmatic, Minolta XG-1, Exakta, etc.

I like things with lots of dials and knobs, and the Leica is a darned-fine piece of machinery !

It scratches a "niche itch"...

I think I'm almost afraid to try an M.... for fear I'll like it better than
LTM ?🙄


Luddite Frank

One of the good things about retirement - is being able to try all kinds of old gear ( I don't spend much on it these days ) without watching the clock!. Now I just sometimes scratch my head about subject matter, but if one day - it's a Barnack....the next can be a Nikon F - no worries!....as long as there's film at reasonable price - and 'old father time' is kind!. My '39 111 usually sports a Summitar or 3.5Elmar, or even a J8! but now I keep wondering how much of a different look a Summicron would give - to the Summitar? - I've been thinking about one for a while!....never ends - does it? LOL! 😀
Dave.

 

[Erik van Straten]

A very reliable tool. Leica II post-war conversion with SCNOO rapidwinder.

Erik.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

A very reliable tool. Leica II post-war conversion with SCNOO rapidwinder.

Erik.

Erik - that's one well handled, well loved machine!...glad it's still a user!.......how many of todays toys will see such service?
Dave.

 

[shadowfox]

BTW, it's been said that "Barnack of Japan" Mr. Maitani designed OM1 (originally named M1) to achieve Barnack Leica's size in SLR form. When you compare the two, the foot print of the OM's main body part excluding the mirror box is nearly identical to IIIf.

I think the most Barnack-like of Mr. Maitani's designs is the Pen F:

There is no mistaking where he got the inspiration from 🙂

 

[Ronald M]

Some Leica execs also believed it was special also because it remained in production with the M3 for some time before they gave it up.

I have not given up on my 111C and 111F even though I have full frame digi Nikons.Amazing cameras.

 

[Luddite Frank]

I would like to try-out / own a III-g....

I think the fact that there is still a wide range of NEW lenses available in LTM is testament to the quality of Barnack's / Leitz's original 35mm system.

Might not be the most streamlined outfit even by 1960 standards, but a fine performer, nearly 100 years after Oskar Barnack's original 35mm cine exposure tester of 1914...

Long live Barnacks !

 

[Mr_Flibble]

There's definitely an M-camera on the wanted-list, but for now I'm having too much fun with my two shooters; a IIIA and IIIC. The A was my first real proper Barnack. I tried cheaper (Leica-fied Zorkiis and FEDs) and was let down every time.

I've been playing with a lot of other classic cameras over the last two months (Argus A, C-44, Rolleiflex Standerd), but somehow I never feel quite so comfortable or relaxed with these.
There is something about using a LTM Leica; the noise of the shutter; the position of the release; focussing; that feels just right.

 

[Calzone]

I would like to try-out / own a III-g....

Recently bought a IIIG and I am in love.

All the knurled knobs add a tactile sense to the controls, and I love how the slower shutter speeds below 1/30th of a second are a second seperate knob. There is a tactile sense present that I do not get from my M.

I also love how the film advance knob protects the shutter release from accidental blank shots, and the way I know the film is definitively advanced by the layout of the controls. I can't tell you the amount of times with my M-body I couldn't take a shot because the film was not advanced or the amount of wasted film just by putting the m-body in a bag.

Out in the street, the Barnack seems to be a friendlier camera. It almost seems like total strangers want you to take their pictures. This is weird, especially since I live in NYC.

Very recently I bought a Canon/Serenar 28/3.5 with a Canon VF to create my new "Street Machine." The IIIG with this lens is a sexy camera. Don't tell my girlfriend, but I was coming out of my house, when I saw this really hot girl. She was almost as tall as me (5' 10"). I feel that because of the Barnack she took notice of me, and then she gave me a huge inviting smile. I had seen her coming and had already zone focused the camera. The shot I took came out great. Almost as good as sex.

Calzone

 

[coelacanth]

Very recently I bought a Canon/Serenar 28/3.5 with a Canon VF to create my new "Street Machine." The IIIG with this lens is a sexy camera. Don't tell my girlfriend, but I was coming out of my house, when I saw this really hot girl. She was almost as tall as me (5' 10"). I feel that because of the Barnack she took notice of me, and then she gave me a huge inviting smile. I had seen her coming and had already zone focused the camera. The shot I took came out great. Almost as good as sex.

Yes, make sure your GF doesn't read this by accident. 😀